Chapter Text
The light was blinding at first.
Just a speck- but it was enough to scorch his dark, empty head.
Another tiny dot followed, and another, illuminating the lonely void, his lonely void, where all of his thoughts and memories and feelings were just... gone.
The light swelled, and just as it reached a new level of unbearable, the mental assault slowly dimmed, replaced by something physical.
It started in his foot. A tingle that quickly turned into sparks that became a burning, raging storm spreading through his body. The endless pain was enough to send his body shaking and thrashing, any attempt to stop the inferno, make it stop.
Strong arms were on him then, pinning him to something hard. With that realization came the slow waking up of the rest of his body, and he could feel from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. Of course, this only made the burning worse. Words came from somewhere above him, something about hurting himself, but all he needed was for the fire to stop. He flailed harder, trying to extinguish the flames, and while they didn't burn out, the burning beast settled down enough for him to think of a new strategy: his voice.
He prepared to scream for his life, hopefully gaining him some help from whoever was holding him down, but when he opened his mouth, the only thing that came out was a weak sputter.
Another voice entered the chaos, something melodious and sweet, and a shadow fell over him. He flinched back, for fear of the fire, but the shadow brought a cure.
Something smooth was pressed against his desert-dry lips (that burned like a sandstorm whenever he thought about them), and suddenly, a cooling rush filled his body.
Water.
Only a drop, but to someone who's body was as flame-filled as his, it did wonders.
With every drop of water, the flames began to fizzle out, and slowly, the smoke parted to reveal... somewhere. The room was made of a grayish material that looked like it would be hard if he ran into it.
His body, meanwhile, felt good as new compared to before, so he decided to try speaking again.
At the last moment, he changed his plea to a "Where am I?", rasped from a throat that hadn't spoken in... he didn't know how long.
The first voice responded, saying gruffly that he was somewhere he couldn't escape. He could see now that it was attached to a wrinkly old man, in addition to a few other shadows in the room that he couldn't make out. The wrinkly man continued talking,"And in the meantime, you can tell us why the Neverseen wanted to get rid of you, and what they're planning next."
Neverseen. That word brought the flames back. The rest of the speech was gone, as he drowned in fire and flame and misery. Remembering he could use his voice, he lashed, "I don't know what you're talking about!"
How did they not know the only thing inside his brain was a raging inferno? He had no idea where he was, how he got there, or even who he was.
"Right." A new shadow spoke, someone with short dark hair and vivid teal eyes. "You're seriously going to cover for them? After they cut you up and left you to die?"
He wasn't sure what it was about the voice, but it was like it embodied the flame, calling it forward, urging it on. The return of the fire meant the return of the endless pain, and he resumed thrashing, anything to make it stop.
Another shadow spoke, warning him that he was going to hurt himself. Hoping his voice wouldn't abandon him, he snapped back, "Then let me go! Please, I don't know anything."
Seeking out the one with the sweet voice, the one who gave him water, he begged, "Please help me." He didn't care what she thought of him, what any of them thought of him, if he could be set free.
The fire-voice was back. "None of us are buying this, Alvar. Just stop."
As the fire surged back, his void of a brain snagged on one of those words. "Alvar?" he repeated.
None of the shadows responded, so he took his time studying each and every one. He ended on the sweet one, who had blonde hair and nervous brown eyes.
Huffing out a breath, he asked the room, "Who's Alvar?"
The room erupted into complete chaos, and the noise fueled the flames, which grew hotter and hotter, scorching him from the inside out. He heard snippets of the arguing, some fighting for something called a Tribunal, others (including the fire-voice) asking for a life sentence. Sentence to where, he had no idea, but some things were better not to know. Whatever he had done to make them all hate him with a burning passion was also on that list, but he suspected he'd find out eventually. He had to defend himself a few times when it seemed hopeless, screaming out how he didn't know anything, and in the end, the Tribunal group won. A decision made, the groups shuffled out, leaving him bound.
Everyone except for the shadow with a voice of fire had left, leaving the two of them alone in the room for a moment.
"I know you're lying. I know you remember." he hissed like smoke. "I'll find proof, and the day I do, you're going to regret every day of your horrible life."
With that, the shadow left, leaving him with too many questions, not enough answers, and a fire threatening to consume him whole.